English football will begin a prolonged period of recrimination today, starting with the search for a new coach, after Steve McClaren's side was defeated 3-2 by Croatia at Wembley and eliminated from Euro 2008.

Needing only a draw to ensure their qualification for the finals in Austria-Switzerland next summer, England had staged a stirring second-half comeback to recover a two-goal deficit - only for a late goal from the Croatian substitute Mladen Petric to condemn them to defeat.

It is the first time since 1994 England have failed to qualify for a major tournament, and coach Steve McClaren is expected to pay with his job today. He insisted last night he would not resign, but the boos of 90,000 England supporters as he made his way from the Wembley pitch suggested the FA have no choice but to sack him after just 15 months in charge.

Two-down after 14 minutes - the first Croatian goal coming courtesy of an excruciating goalkeeping error from Scott Carson, playing his first competitive match - not even the introduction of David Beckham as a second-half substitute was sufficient to save McClaren's side.

A sense of nervous foreboding hung over the stadium even before kick-off, with heavy rain and even heavier traffic on the North Circular contributing to a pervading sense that a grim night could be in prospect. At home a BBC television audience likely to have exceeded 10 million edged forward in their seats for a familiar night of nail biting.

The Wembley pitch lived down to expectation too, a downpour before the game reducing areas of the surface to mud after the pre-match warm-ups. The national stadium cost the Football Association £757m, insufficient, it seems, to ensure an adequate playing surface.

For all the omens not even the most fatalistic of supporters would have anticipated the catastrophic way England began the match. Against technically superior opponents they fell two goals behind in the first 14 minutes.

The first will haunt Carson and the England coach for months to come. Called into the side by McClaren to replace Paul Robinson, England's first-choice goalkeeper for three years until his confidence collapsed under the weight of high-profile errors, Carson failed his first test.

Niko Kranjcar's speculative 30-yard shot should not have troubled an international goalkeeper, but Carson misread the bounce of the dipping effort and was helpless as it cannoned off his palm into the net.